Monday, September 01, 2008

Chickens make good neighbors

This morning the kids and I were playing out in the yard with the chickens when a neighbor and his kindergarten son started playing baseball in the street. The Talker couldn't miss out on that fun, so I pulled a rocking chair out to the street and watched my chickens, while watching the boys play ball. Yeah, it is a rough life. What can I do?

These same neighbors stopped by a couple of days ago to see the chicks. They had never seen the house or the backyard, so The Boss Lady gave the nickel tour. No one is ever terribly impressed by our 25 year old tract home. But the backyard and that monster of a playscape? They always get some attention.

Flash back to his morning: after a while, we ended up getting the same tour of their newly renovated house. Other than being a little bigger and two stories, they kind of have the same thing going as us. Small 25 year old tract home with a backyard and playscape that could entertain a dozen kids.

Until the last few weeks we have never really known these neighbors. But now they have a son in Kindergarten who likes to ride the bus home with The Talker. And their kids like our chickens. So we see a lot more of them now.

And then it just got weird.

You see, I have a college degree (yeah, it is sort of hard to believe, I know...) in Therapeutic Recreation. It isn't a terribly popular degree program. Especially for dudes. Even more so for guys who graduated from college a decade ago. There were always 75-90% women in my major classes. And the career field is much the same.

Anyways, Neighbor Man (I'll have to ponder a good name for him later) and I were chatting. Found out he also has a degree in Therapeutic Recreation. Excepting a few professional conferences I used to attend, in the 11 years since I graduated I have only met one or two other TR degree holders. And besides those same conferences, NEVER had I met another guy who has a Therapeutic Recreation degree.

Evidently that is because we both live here in the neighborhood. And I never would have known about it except for the chickens.

6 comments:

Admin said...

It's cool that you can have lots of pets, including chickens, for your kids to play with. I've managed to sneak in four cats, two over the limit, into my condo. Condos have too many darn rules for kids to live by, so a house will definitely be in order within a few years.

I think all of my neighbors specialize in gerontological recreation.

ninjapoodles said...

Ah, chickens. Bringing the world together. Love it!

Mike said...

Welcome to my last remaining bit of sanity. Pull up a chair and watch the chickens with me.

Anonymous said...

Do you both have little pig noses too? Cuz, this is sounding a little too "Twilight Zone" isn't it?

(pig nose reference: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734568/)

Therapeutic Recreation...I had to look that one up.
I could have totally gone in for that. But...never heard of it. So sad.

Glad you made a friend!

Mike said...

Now that you mention it...

His nose is big, flat and looks a little snout-y. But mine is perfectly proportioned.

If my face were 5 feet wide.

Who you calling big nose?

Anonymous said...

spooky!!! :)